Russellville officials want city aldermen to consider the merits of an employee pay raise plan before determining how to fund it, but aldermen, faced with additional numbers, said it's difficult to separate the two.

The city's personnel committee, stopping short of endorsing the plan Monday, will meet again a week from today to consider the plan, but how the plan will be funded remains a top concern, Aldermen Faye Abernathy and Andrea Lea said during Monday's meeting. The original plan, released by Police Chief James Bacon and Fire Chief Dennis Miller and endorsed by Mayor Raye Turner, suggests a 2-mill property tax increase, a proposal that has concerned some aldermen.

The latest salary restructuring plan for non-uniform city employees adds a performance evaluation raise for those employees, up to 3 percent of their salaries, annually, based on workplace performance evaluations as judged by their individual department heads.

The plan allows for up to 3 percent annual performance evaluation raises for the city attorney, district judge and treasurer, although Turner said there is no idea yet to determine who would evaluate those officials' performances and hand out raises.

Under the new component of the plan, heads of city departments would personally evaluate each employee annually, giving them up to a 3-percent raise based on their opinion of that employee's job performance through the year. Department heads would also have the option of not giving a raise if that employee did not meet expectations. The performance evaluations do not take the place of cost of living increases, a figure that is set by aldermen when considering a new budget each year, Turner said.

Employees did not receive merit or cost of living raises for 2004 because of shortfalls in the city's budget.

Russellville employees already receive incentive pay based on college education, ranging up to $960 additionally each year for each employee with a bachelor's degree. That incentive would stay in place in the new proposal, along with a longevity pay plan that would pay employees extra for years of service.

Under the longevity plan, employees who work for the city for five to nine years would receive $500 annually in a lump-sum payment on their anniversary date. Employees with 10-14 years with the city would receive $750 annually on their anniversary date, employees with 15-19 years would receive $1,000, employees with 20-24 years would receive $1,250 annually and employees with 25 or more years with the city would receive $1,500 annually.

The city also presently pays 100 percent of each individual employee's health insurance premiums, which total $3,224 per employee per year. Employees pay premiums for for dependents added to their insurance plans.

Separate plan, funding

Morgan Barrett, the city's public works director, asked aldermen to make priorities and decide if they should adopt the proposed plan and ultimately consider funding the plan separately. He expressed frustration with aldermen who are taking their time to come to any conclusions.

"I'm just concerned about how we're going to pay for it," Abernathy responded. "[The employees] are important to me. But where the money comes from is important, too."

"To me, it's a matter of clearly understanding the plan and deciding if we can fund it," Lea said about the plan. "To me, you can't separate the two."

Lea and Abernathy both said they had received phone calls from constituents concerned about increasing property taxes. Alderman Tyrone Williamson, however, said his constituents on fixed income were willing to pay extra to fund employee raises. He said no one has contacted him to oppose a property tax increase.

"We're crawling right now," Williamson said. "We're like a baby, and we've got to get to where we start to walk."

Lea also brought salary structures for employees at Arkansas Tech University and Pope County offices so committee members could compare city salaries with local entities along with those from cities in other parts of the state.

The non-uniform plan came after city police and fire officials issued a joint proposal in early August detailing pay increases for all city uniformed personnel. Their plan would also consolidate the way police and firefighters are paid, making the starting salaries for both positions the same. Some city department heads have said that it would be unfair to give police and firefighters a raise without similarly compensating non-uniformed city employees.

A 2-mill property tax increase would mean a $40 annual increase to city land owners for each $100,000 in assessed property value, Turner said. It would raise more than $500,000 for the city to be used specifically for employee pay.

Aldermen have the power to pass the property tax increase on their own, although some have indicated that they would rather let city voters decide if property taxes should be raised.